HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS 5 



exceptional. In all species the male seems to be chiefly 

 in evidence, and, in general, his spring plumage suffices 

 to identify both sexes throughout the year. 



In several cases the same species has been put into 

 more than one list ; as where a characteristic color is 

 very inconspicuous, or where a tint is ambiguous. One 

 might see the cat-bird twenty times without detecting 

 the red under tail-coverts ; and the blotch on the song- 

 sparrow's breast sometimes looks black, and sometimes 

 dark brown. A very dark color often passes for black 

 at a distance. 



The various sparrows offer more difficulty than any 

 other family of land-birds, owing to the minuteness of 

 their distinctive markings. Yet the '' sparrow-garb " is 

 so characteristic that the student will often know his 

 specimen to be a sparrow, long before he has determined 

 the species. As an aid to identification, the numbers un- 

 der which the detailed descriptions of all the sparrows 

 are to be found, are stated collectively on page i8. 



'' Black " includes also blackish. 



Under the term " red " is included every shade from 

 chestnut to scarlet. A species showing red will often 

 be more easily identified by referring to the red list 

 of land and water birds, finding its detailed descrip- 

 tion under its proper number. 



After the physical description, is given, in smaller 

 type, an outline of life-history — distribution in territory 

 (if no mention is made of this point, the species is found 

 to a considerable extent in all the States, though not 



